Caricature costume



March 19, 1968 J. VERDERAME GARICATURE COSTUME Filed Oct. 8. 1965 INVENTOR. JACK VERDERAME ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,373,446 CARICATURE COSTUME Jack Verderame, 412 La Casa Ave., San Mateo, Calif. 94403 Filed Oct. 8, 1965, Ser. No. 494,021 2 Claims. (Cl. 2173) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A caricature costume having an oversized hat dimensioned to fit over and enclose a wearers head, the hat being provided with a transparent strip through which the wearer may observe, the hat extending downwardly to substantially shoulder level, and an enlarged false face piece depicting a representation of a human face secured to the hat and depending therefrom and said face piece dimensioned such that it will cover a substantial abdominal portion of the wearer from about the shoulders to the waist of the wearer.

An object of this invention is to provide a caricature costume in the nature of a novelty that may be worn by individuals of various ages, and more especially children, for instance, at costume parties or for other amusement purposes.

A further object of the invention is to provide an over-sized hat that may be worn so as to enclose the wearers head and extend downwardly to substantially shoulder level, with an enlarged false face piece being secured to the hat so as to cover a substantial portion of the wearers abdomen. In general appearance, the caricature costume creates the impression of a large face with a big hat on the head. From a frontal view, only the hips, legs and arms of the wearer are exposed. Thus, a grotesque and exaggerated appearance will be afforded, resulting in amusement to other children and people of various ages.

Another object of the invention is to provide a caricature costume that may be firmly supported on the wearer, and the wearer being permitted freedom of movement. Moreover, the face piece is detachably secured to the hat, whereby various styles of hats and face pieces may be assembled from an assortment of hats and face pieces. The hat is provided with a strip of material through which the wearer may observe, but this strip of material generally will remain unnoticed by others.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a caricature costume that may be manufactured at a relatively low cost, yet efficient for the purpose intended.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the specification proceeds, and the novel features of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.

Drawing For a better understanding of the invention, reference should be had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing my caricature costume being worn by a child;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the hat with the face piece detached therefrom; and

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the assembled hat and face piece prior to being placed on the wearers head.

While I have shown only one embodiment of my invention, it should be understood that various changes, or modifications, may be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit thereof.

3,373,446 Patented Mar. 19, 1968 Detailed description Referring now to the drawing in detail, it will be noted that an oversized hat A is provided, and it is dimensioned to fit over and enclose the head 10 of a wearer B, with the hat extending downwardly to substantially shoulder level, as clearly shown in FIG. 1. This hat is provided with a strip of material 11 that is transparent so that the wearer may observe therethrough, this strip being disposed at about eye level of the wearer when the hat is in place.

Moreover, an enlarged false face piece C is secured to the hat A to depend therefrom so as to cover a substantial abdominal portion 12 of the wearer, leaving the arms 13, waist 14 and legs 15 of the wearer exposed or uncovered by the costume.

The strip of material 11 may be secured over an opening 16 formed in the hat, with the strip preferably being placed on the inside of the hat. This strip may be formed by transparent cloth, such as gauze, having the same color as the hat A so as to blend thereinto and thus be substantially unnoticeable by others.

The face piece C has an upper edge 17 positioned to fit under and bear against the wearers chin 18 to thus aid in holding the hat A and the face piece C in place. This face piece is detachably secured to the hat, whereby various styles of hats and face pieces may be assembled from an assortment of hats and face pieces. For this purpose, a pair of elastic straps 19 have their lower ends anchored to the face piece, such as passing through openings or grommets 20, while the upper ends of these straps are detachably connected to the hat A by any suitable fastening means, such as conventional snap fasteners having the male part 21 attached to the lower interior section of the hat and the female part 22 attached to the upper ends of the straps 19 (see FIG. 2).

Moreover, the elastic straps 19 will permit the hat A and face piece C to be utilized by different sizes of wearers, with the upper edge 17 of the face piece bearing against the wearers chin. As shown in FIG. 3, the upper ends of these elastic straps are attached to the hat at about the vertical transverse central plane 23 of the hat so that the straps will yieldingly draw the face piece towards the wearers abdominal portion 12. When the caricature costume is placed over the head 10 of the wearer, the face piece C is moved forwardly, as suggested by the dot-dash lines in FIG. 3; and the face piece may be inclined, if desired, so as to facilitate placement of the costume on the wearers head.

Ribbons 24 of either elastic or cloth material are anchored to the face piece C, such as passing through openings or grommets 25, and these ribbons have sufficient lengths to be tied around the wearers body so as to hold the face piece steady.

It will be appreciated, of course, that the hat A and the face piece C may be made in various sizes, shapes and designs, and I do not wish to be limited in this respect.

Instead of placing the strip of material 11 on the interior of the hat A, the latter may be covered on its entire exterior surface with transparent material matching the color of the hat. This arrangement is obvious and needs no illustration. The opening 16 still would be provided in the hat.

I claim:

1. In a caricature costume:

(a) an oversized hat having a crown and a brim dimensioned to fit over and enclose a wearers head and to extend downwardly to substantially shoulder level;

(b) an elongated horizontal opening formed in the crown adapted to extend in front of a wearers eyes when said hat is worn;

(c) said elongated horizontal opening provided with a transparent strip through which the wearer may observe;

(d) an enlarged false face piece depicting a human face depending from said hat and dimensioned to cover a substantial abdominal portion from the shoulders to the waist portion of a wearer;

(e) means securing the false face piece at an upper end thereof to a lower portion of said hat;

(f) means at a lower end of said false face piece to secure the same about a wearers body.

2 In a caricature costume as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

(g) the first-named means are a pair of elastic straps, the upper ends thereof secured to the lower end of the hat at a vertical transverse central plane of the hat so that the elastic straps are adapted to draw the face piece rearwardly towards the wearers abdominal portion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

a GEORGE H. KRIZMANICH, Assistant Examiner. 

